Oksana Chepelyk’s project “Become an Ocean” is part of the international COPArt exhibition “Still Possible,” organized on the occasion of the COP31 summit in Antalya, Turkey, from November 9 to 20, 2026.
Becoming an Ocean
Oksana Chepelyk’s installations have become an important part of the exhibition “Still Possible”, as their subject matter directly resonates with the environmental agenda of the climate conference COP31.
These works form the core of her large-scale interdisciplinary art project “Become an Ocean”, developed through art-and-science residencies at Iméra (2022-2024), funded by PAUSE, Amidex and FIAS financed by the European Commission in the frame of the Marie-Skłodowska-Curie Actions and APF, USA.
The three works are conceptually interconnected:
- “Genesis: Mother-Whale” (2023) – a painted quadriptych (a four-part polyptych) that became the starting point for an ecological immersion. The image of the “Mother-Whale” evokes the origins of life in the ocean, motherhood and the deep genesis of the Earth, while simultaneously emphasizing the vulnerability of vast marine ecosystems in the face of anthropogenic impact.
- “Symbiotic Jellyfish” (2024) – a spatial installation exploring survival, adaptation to a changing and warming biosphere, flexibility and symbiosis human with the underwater world.
- “Murmuration: Manta Ray” (2024) – an installation inspired by the phenomenon of murmuration: collective, coordinated movement most commonly observed in birds or fish. It symbolizes ethical coexistence, the shared rhythms of living nature and collective patterns of survival.
Context and Key Issues
Through audiovisual technologies, computer graphics and physical forms, Oksana Chepelyk brings together scientific data on the Mediterranean basin, philosophical ideas of the noosphere and ecological activism. The project openly addresses the degradation of marine environments, ecocide and the critical impact of human activity on aquatic resources.
In 2024, these installations were exhibited in France, in the MMSH exhibition in Aix-en-Provence, and at the Science Festival 2024. Furthermore, the protection of the Black Sea and the ecology of aquatic environments are central concerns for Ukraine at the COP31 climate summit in Antalya, where this large-scale artistic ecological statement finds a direct resonance.
